Professor Mukila Maitha from Harper College in Palatine, Illinois talks with The Savvy Entrepreneur about the many business opportunities that drones will offer. Harper is one of a small number of colleges & universities with a drone certificate program.
Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, have been around for a few decades and were used mostly in military operations. Today’s drones come in a huge range of sizes, and their uses in commercial applications are limited only by people’s imaginations.
The most popular uses for drones today are in photography, real estate, and monitoring. Soon, however, they will be used commonly for deliveries of all sorts. In Singapore, they are even being tested to carry people — look out, Uber & Lyft!
Mukila & I chat about some of the many, many current and future business opportunities that drones present. And many of these are suited to small businesses. Drone business opportunities including building and repairing drones, and programming them. Most needed of all are people to create the concepts for using drones and people to translate the data from the drones into useful graphics or other presentations.
People who can straddle 2 different areas of expertise, such as environmental monitoring and drone programming, or photography and real estate, will have plenty of business opportunities, Mukila says.
But as you listen to Mukila start to envision our drone future, you will start to realize drone business opportunities are everywhere, and present lots of opportunities to people with interest and skills (or willingness to learn those skills).
Read on for a transcript of that interview, but you can go here if you’d prefer to listen to the original interview.
Doris Nagel 0:42
Good morning, all you entrepreneurs and small businesspeople! You’re listening to The Savvy Entrepreneur show.
I’m Doris Nagel, your host for the next hour.
The show has two goals. First, to share helpful information and resources. I have made so many mistakes and seen a lot of mistakes over the past 30 years. If I can help just one of you entrepreneurs out there, not make some of the mistakes I’ve made or I’ve seen, then I’ve been successful.
The second goal is also to inspire. Being an entrepreneur I found was confusing, often lonely. Sometimes you have no idea if you’re on the right track or not, or where to turn for good advice.
To help with both those goals, I have guests on the show every week, who are willing to share their stories and their advice.
This week’s guest is Professor Mukila Maitha from Harper College. He is an associate professor there, and the chair and coordinator of the drone program at Harper College.
Since it’s such an interesting and evolving technology, I thought it would be fun for people to hear and learn about drones, and maybe some of the business opportunities that people are taking advantage or that entrepreneurs may be able to take advantage of in the future.
Professor Maitha, or Mukila, as you’ve asked me to call you, welcome to The Savvy Entrepreneur Show. Thanks for being here today.
Mukila Maitha 2:16
Thank you, Doris. Pleasure to be here. I’m looking forward to our conversation today.
Doris Nagel
Me too. Drones are all over the news. And yet, I think my knowledge is kind of sketchy about how drones are used and what they can do, and some of the future opportunities and challenges with drones.
I think the natural place to start is to just make sure we all know what a drone is exactly, and maybe what it isn’t.
Mukila Maitha 2:47
A drone is an aircraft that is flown without a person on board who is in physical control of the aircraft. So this aircraft is flown remotely.
Doris Nagel
Are they little? I have this vision of them being little tiny things, but I’m not sure that’s quite true.
Mukila Maitha 3:07
No, they vary in size.
They can range from the really small toy ones, that could be even a quarter pound or less, to really large systems that are hundreds of pounds, even the size of the small aircraft.
So there’s an entire range and, and the FAA classifies them. There are the ones that we use professionally, that most people use, and those are called small, unmanned or un-crewed aerial systems.
So size is in terms of weight is between point five, five pounds and 55 pounds.
Doris Nagel
Five pounds is still pretty big, though. That’s a lot. And so they’re controlled remotely, somehow.
You know, I have this vision of my brother when we were younger, and he had his little airplane that he controlled with his controller, but I don’t, I don’t think that’s quite how drones are controlled today?
Mukila Maitha 4:05
That’s actually a common way — you have the aircraft and then it will communicate with a remote control device and the pilot will use that for navigation.
But these days, there is also software that takes on that role. Software can be used to control the aircraft, to lift it off the ground, to move it from location to location in the air and then bring it back.
So these days, people use both methods.
Doris Nagel
What are some of the most common uses for drones today?
Mukila Maitha 4:43
I think the most common one, which has been the most popular since drones entered into popular use, is for photography and videography — capturing video at events. Some people might have seen them flying around at weddings, for example.
They’re also used a lot for real estate. Photography is a big part of selling property. So providing an aerial perspective gives both sellers and buyers just a different view than you get on the ground. So real estate photography and video is a big user of drones.
They are also used for inspections. Having a drone up in the in the air, you can inspect, for example, for roof damage after a severe weather event, or to check wear and tear. You can also attach a thermal camera on it, which can show where you’re having heat loss in excess of what might be expected.
They’re also used for inspecting bridges, cell phone towers, power lines, oil pipelines, and the like. They’re also use frequently for mapping. Mapping is used in a wide variety of industries, including agriculture, for mapping the fields to see the progression of crops and to see where there might be issues during the growing season.
They’re used in construction. So if I’m a manager of the job, or the person who paid for a job, I might want to see progression over time. And that could be mapped with a drone. Also, if you have mining, you might want to estimate the amount of material that that has been excavated.
You can map an area and create a 3d model and get measurements from the drone.
They also they can be used for in agriculture, not only for mapping, but also for spraying and, and dispensing seeds.
Doris Nagel
So maybe the crop dusting profession may get phased out by drones?
Mukila Maitha 6:54
Yes. Or else those folks may just learn a new skill and just transition to using drones.
Doris Nagel
It’s interesting that you haven’t mentioned the one that I see in the news the most, which is using drones for delivery.
Mukila Maitha 7:07
Yes. Delivery is definitely another use. Right now, the FAA is working on regulations that would make it easier to launch [drone] delivery services.
I think the big issue has been how to manage the airspace with all these systems moving around. To date,it’s been quite restrictive in terms of being able [to use drones for delivery], because right now, if you fly a drone, a small, unmanned or uncrewed system, you always have to have it within visual line of sight, unless you get an exemption.
Doris Nagel
Yes, that really does limit things. That works fine if you’re a tourism company, and you just want to take some high panoramic views of things. But I imagine that a pretty challenging restriction for delivery companies.
Mukila Maitha 7:58
Yes. The FAA has rulemaking committees that recommend regulations, and there have been recommendations about regulations to allow flying drones beyond visual line of sight. So we can expect in the next year or two to start seeing an environment being created for drone delivery use. So yes, delivery is a big [potential use].
And outside the US, in a country like South Korea, you will also have them for urban mobility. They are developing air taxis and the systems for them. So, the use of drones for delivery will go beyond delivering just packages. You will also see people being transported.
Doris Nagel
Wow. That is taking driverless cars to the next level with driverless aircraft – or pilotless, I guess.
What’s the most unique or unusual use of drones that you’ve seen or heard about?
Mukila Maitha 9:03
There are some very interesting ones out there. In Norway, there is a company called Nordic Unmanned, that helps the European Maritime agencies enforce pollution monitoring regulations. So incoming ocean vessels, or other ocean vessels need to control their emissions.
Doris Nagel
So if there’s an oil slick spotted around when of the ships, they’re in big trouble!
Mukila Maitha 9:34
Yes, oil slicks are one issue. But there’s also just the pollution from the exhausts. So that needs to be controlled.
I learned that when a ship is a dock, it’s not necessarily using the same engine power or parts of the engine as when it’s out in the open ocean. So the emissions are different if it’s tested at the dock, versus when it’s out in the ocean.
So Nordic Unmanned came in to start monitoring these ships when they were out in the ocean. They would use a long range drone, which was the shape of a helicopter, but a drone helicopter. This thing is, I would say, about 15 feet or so in length. And so it flies out in the ocean and then into the [ship’s] smokestack. It has a sensor that will it has to stay within that stack for about 60 seconds or so. The sensor detects methane, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide, and the like.
Doris Nagel
I’m guessing there’s probably a bunch of very unhappy ship owners who before were able to pollute under the radar scope and now are completely busted.
Mukila Maitha 10:58
Yes. So now, they have to follow the rules.
But the thing is, they patrol just within the territorial waters. And that drone has a range. So still out in the open sea, there may still be an issue, but at least this was an interesting use.
Another interesting drone are fully autonomous drone systems, where you don’t need a pilot or person at all flying the drone. So their systems now being sold. There is a company called Percepto, working with the leading drone manufacturer company called DJI from Chinat has what is called the DJI dock. So with this one, the drone will take off from a landing pad. It will be programmed to fly, carry out its work, and then return itself to the docking station. Batteries will be charged or changed and then it will add the next one is required to fly again it will fly and then with there’ll be software that can allow the control of more than one drone.
Doris Nagel
That blows me away. The software alone must be very, very complex because. It’s one thing if you have visual sight lines and you can steer the drone kind of the way my brother used to steer his little radio controlled airplane when he was a kid. But it’s totally another thing to have drones and just go out and do things.
How do they not run into buildings or other things? That’s got to be really complicated software.
Mukila Maitha 12:46
The software is one part of it, and it can get complicated. But these drones have LIDAR sensors — sensors that send out beams of light, which the drone will use to detect its distance from obstacles.
Doris Nagel
Or in the future, even other drones if our skies become full of them.
Mukila Maitha 13:12
Yes. So obstacle avoidance is part of these systems. And it’s become quite common today to have a drone that has obstacle avoidance in the front, both sides, and underneath. So it’s a combination of obstacle, avoidance and the software working on those.
Doris Nagel
How many drones to do we think are out there today? Is anybody kind of keeping track of that?
Mukila Maitha 13:40
It’s hard to know, because you have all the way from the tiny toy drones that are available at any shop – any toy store or supermarket or the like — all the way to large military systems and the like.
So it’s a really wide range. The FAA in the US tracks the drones that are registered. If your drone is more than point five five pounds, it needs to be registered, whether it’s for recreational or commercial purposes.
I checked recently, and the number in the U.S. was over 850,000 drones that were registered. Out of that 300,000 were commercial registrations, and then half a million were for recreational purposes.
Doris Nagel
And I’m gonna guess there’s quite a few that are not registered, because either people didn’t know about the requirement or chose to look the other way. So it’s really hard to tell.
Mukila Maitha
Correct. And that’s just the US only. There’s international as well.
Doris Nagel
Can drones cross international boundaries? If I’m in Canada, can I send something to the US or can I send a drone across to take pictures of Niagara Falls?
Mukila Maitha 15:12
I think physically that most drones will be able to do that. But there’s the issue of regulations, right?
So I think a pilot should follow the regulations that are required in order to move the drone across borders. There are particular manufacturers that actually limit their drones so that if you register your drone in the US, if you do cross the border — because these the more expensive drones have GPS receivers on them — the drone will say sorry, I have an interruption here.
So because of the GPS receiver that’s on the drone, the manufacturer is able to tell if, if the drone crossed boundaries, and then it can enforce the rules for that country.
Some of the rules also include airspace restrictions. So for instance, flying in a large city or flying very close to an airport is not allowed without authorization. So from the Aviation Authority, so that and that’s, so some of these, some, some manufacturers do not enforce that, or put it on their drones, and somebody could assemble their own drone that, that doesn’t have these restrictions. But some of some of them do.
Doris Nagel
That must be a little terrifying for pilots who are out there trying to fly they’re used to the control towers that control the airspace around a an airport pretty carefully. And to have the risk of having these little planes — or medium sized planes — flying around must be a little frightening.
Mukila Maitha 16:45
It is a big issue. And for the United States, there’s a new test, called the trust test. It’s a recreational users test, and that’s required for everyone, even if you’re flying for fun. If your aircraft is over the half a pound, you need to take that test.
And part of that is so that everybody becomes familiar with the US airspace rules and the safety issues. And the potential of — like you mentioned — interfering with crewed aircraft.
That’s a big part of the commercial pilot preparation. But the FAA saw that drones have become very popular. So the general public needs to be aware of the issues. So that test was put in place, and it takes a very short time to do it, just like 30 minutes.
Doris Nagel
I’m glad to hear that. And I suspect that as drones increase, there will be increasing regulations on them.
One use you didn’t mention, but I think people do have some concern about, is using them for spying.
For example, if you were a private detective, you might use them to spy on some someone for maybe innocent reasons, maybe not. But I suspect some of that’s gonna probably get regulated at some point, too. Do you agree?
Mukila Maitha 18:28
In terms of the airspace, the FAA regulates anything above the ground, but there are both state and municipality rules about the use of drones, and that just varies across the US.
And in some places, if the drones for instance are used by the by the police, or detectives andthe like, there are only particular circumstances that the drone can be used. And then in other circumstances, it’s not permitted. Then, if somebody feels that their privacy is being invaded, then I think then that general privacy laws would come into play.
Doris Nagel
I’m sure this is an area that’s evolving quickly, and will evolve a lot in the future as the use of drones multiplies.
Talk about your background. How did you get interested in drones and become so passionate about the subject?
Mukila Maitha 19:38
My background was in geographic information systems, or geospatial technologies. For those who are not familiar with it, that’s the technology that’s behind the mapping applications that we use every day, like Google Maps, for instance. Although it can do a lot more than that.
I also worked as a software programmer. So when I joined Harper College, I began teaching the geospatial classes here, and established a GIS certificate. And within that, we have a remote sensing class, where we teach students how to use aerial photography and satellite imagery.
And the issue with satellite imagery is that you may have global coverage, but you don’t have very high resolution imagery. So if you just want to study a small area, you might not get the imagery very quickly or inexpensively.
And that’s when I learned that drones were being used to teach remote sensing. This was around 2017. And right then, I saw an opportunity to introduce the use of drones in the remote sensing class. That’s when Harper purchased a drone for the department, and we started to use it in the remote sensing class.
And just by doing that, I was exposed to the use of drones in many areas, and also got to learn about community colleges around the country that were teaching students [about drones] and building entire programs. And that’s when the commercial licenses became available.
So there was an opportunity to help prepare the workforce for careers and businesses in this area.
Doris Nagel
You re on the faculty at Harper College. Tell people where that is. I’m sure people, at least in the Chicago area, have heard of it, but may not know exactly where it is.
And then share how the College decided to have an entire department and program focused on drones.
Mukila Maitha
Harper College is located in the northwestern suburbs of Chicago, established in 1966. And it serves over 30,000 part time and full time students.
Doris Nagel
30,000! That’s a lot!
Mukila Maitha 21:58
Yes, it’s a large community college it, and it also serves two populations: those who want to transfer and complete their bachelor’s degrees, and then those who would like to get career and technical skills.
And we’ve had our geospatial program since 2015.
Doris Nagel
How did it morph into an entire program focused on drones?
Mukila Maitha 22:27
So from introducing it in remote sensing, I saw the opportunity to create a drone program and pitched the idea to our administration.
In 2019, we got a new president who wanted to have an aviation program at Harper. So that was the perfect opportunity to develop a drone program, because it tied in with that vision to have aviation programs here.
With that support, we got the resources and backing to then launch the program last year, which we did. We also got it accredited, a specialized accreditation with the FAA as part of their unmanned aerial systems collegiate training initiative.
So with that, we’re actually one of two colleges in the state of Illinois with that designation.
Doris Nagel
In fact, I was just about to ask you was, how unique is your program? I’m sure there’s a growing number of schools that are looking at this, but it sounds like you were one of the first couple of schools in the state to have a program like this.
Mukila Maitha 23:42
Yes. Drone programs are becoming more popular, and in many places, you may find standalone classes.
But we are the second program in the State. The first one was Parkland College in Champaign Urbana, but for the Chicago metropolitan area, we are the first community college program that has a full credit bearing certificate. We are also unique in that the program has grown out of the GIS and geospatial programs. So we really teach students how to create photogrammetry products — the 2D and 3D maps multispectral maps that can be used in a variety of industries.
We also prepare the students for the part 107 exam.
Doris Nagel
Sorry, what’s part 107?
Mukila Maitha 24:34
So to fly a drone commercially, you need a drone pilot certificate or license. And [Part 107] refers to the part of the US regulations that govern the use of drones – part 107 of the Federal Code of Regulations. So sometimes people call it the part 107 test.
Doris Nagel
I see. The Drone World, I’m sure, just like every world, has its initials and jargon that people use, and I’m sure that will increasingly be the case with drones.
One of the things that I thought was amazing, and admirable, is that there’s obviously a focus on diversity within the program. You speak with an accent, so I’m going to take the jump and assume you’re not originally from the United States?
Mukila Maitha
That’s correct.
Doris Nagel
And not only are you an immigrant, you’re a person of color, and the other professor in the department is a woman. So kudos to you.
But was that an accident? Or is that something that the college has been mindful about?
Mukila Maitha 25:49
Yes, when it comes to drones and expanding technology and the like, the college, especially when we got the new president, placed a big focus on diversity. Just having worked in the IT industry for many years, that was an unspoken issue. You didn’t have as many women in the industry and definitely not a lot of ethnic minorities, especially from the US. You did have some from overseas — people like myself and others — but not people that had been born here.
When the new College President came on board, she launched the next version of Harper’s strategic plan, which called for increased focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. It calls for creating programs that attract underserved populations. And then within existing programs, making efforts to increase the enrollment in some of these populations.
So some of the offices that have been at Harper for a long time have been empowered in this environment. So we have, for example, a, a women’s center, and within admissions outreach, there are specialists that focus on reaching different populations. They have outreach events that target, let’s say, Latino families, or black families, and the like.
So now, we are seeing more recruiting events and us as faculty are involved and participating in those events to reach out to potential students.
Doris Nagel
I’m really delighted to hear that. So thank you for sharing that.
Talking about some of the diversity efforts and focus of Harper College, which has a pretty huge student population, do you see the world of drones presenting more opportunities for diverse people with diverse kinds of backgrounds?
Mukila Maitha 28:08
Yes, there are lots of opportunities. And especially, because I think in the employment space, and also for those who support businesses, there has been an increased focus on supporting diversity. In terms of the specific opportunities that are out there, I can talk about both careers and also areas business could focus on.
Doris Nagel
Tell us about that.
Mukila Maitha 28:44
In terms of careers, the biggest opportunities are for those who have engineering or programming skills, or those who can acquire them. So the engineering design and maintenance of drone systems, because of the explosion of the industry. The drones do need to be designed and built. But even once they are built, they need to be repaired and maintained.
And the movement is towards automation. And that requires programming expertise. So it’s an opportunity not only for those who want a job, but also if those who would like to provide services. For those who have an engineering or technical background, they can also look to some of the larger companies to provide services in those areas.
Again, for it’s both a career and business opportunity, so creating data products from the use of drones could be [very valuable]
Doris Nagel
I guess you might have your own little drone aircraft company that helps tourism companies take footage, or something like that, and I’m sure there is that opportunity.
But honestly, I didn’t even think about the all the end products that might be valuable. So talk about that.
Mukila Maitha 30:03
Yes. A lot of times when a drone is used, it’s used to collect some kind of data. And then that data needs to be processed into a form that the end user can use for some action.
So for real estate and the like, so that would be videos, and photographs. But a lot of times the end user doesn’t just want a raw photograph. That photo needs to be manipulated in some way.
For videos, instead of giving the end user, like 100 clips, those need to be processed. They might need sound added to them, they may even need to be applied to a storyboard and create a professional video.
So that creates both opportunities for careers as well businesses. Somebody with those skills can have a career there. But also, if one wants to provide services as an entrapreneur, then somebody with a knowledge of real estate and their requirements and also has the skil, to create professional video and photos, and then use software like the Photoshop or Final Cut Pro Adobe Premiere and that kind of thing, then that person can provide those services.
That also applies to mapping. Some of the software can automate a lot — you can just load in photos, and it processes it for you. There is a need, though, to have some background in photogrammetry, or GIS, both for the career side and if you’re going to provide services to that industry as an entrepreneur.
So it’s not only the knowledge of flying the drone, but one needs to have domain knowledge, domain expertise — that is the big thing. So one needs to decide what sector they would like to serve, and make sure that they are familiar with the issues that that sector has, and how drones can serve that sector.
Doris Nagel
So if I understand you correctly, for people who are in real estate today and are maybe looking for a career shift, this could be one opportunity for someone who’s looking to pivot?
Mukila Maitha 32:43
Right, because if they would like to use drones in real estate, they would understand the role that good photography would play in this in the sales process and the sales cycle. And now then they can go and get the skills that are needed to have that expertise. The person can acquire those skills, or sometimes can maybe partner with somebody with those skills.
Because for photography, one would need to be familiar with the subject even. Because I think, even for real estate, the photography tends to be combined — the final product tends to combine aerial and ground photography. So there would need to be expertise to in running and using camera systems in buildings and the like, and then also using them outdoors. And I’ve also seen companies that will use tiny drones that fly indoors to take photographs.
Doris Nagel
Indoors? That’s amazing!
Mukila Maitha
Yes. So the domain expertise, coupled with the technical knowledge to serve that industry or domain .[is the key].
Doris Nagel
Obviously, we hear about big Amazon and UPS trying to use drones for delivery, but are there some smaller companies that that you’ve heard about or read about or know of that have successfully used drones as the basis for creating a new business?
Mukila Maitha 34:02
There are quite a number of them out there. There is a start up here in the Chicago area called Valkyrie Drone Deliveries, and they’re developing a system for deliveries over short distances.
So whereas maybe UPS and Amazon may serve a really large area, this one, you can see a need. So once delivery takes off, you may have just a small scale deliveries that occur within a smaller area. So that company could serve that kind of market.
Doris Nagel
So if I’m a catering business, I can hire them to deliver my catered foods to a nearby customer?
Mukila Maitha 34:54
Potentially, yes. So there are a number of those kinds of businesses out there.
They are also a large number of small manufacturers that build cameras and sensors that go on the drones. So there’s cameras of various types — those that use just visible light that all of us use to see — the visible spectrum.
But there is also the thermal spectrum. And then there are other spectrums as well. So there are those specialized manufacturers that create those.
I also saw at a trade show recently a number of companies that have built devices just for transporting and storing drones, because when you’re using a drone, you have so many components that you have to take out in the field.
Doris Nagel
Interesting. So clearly, there’s all kinds of interesting business angles that people are figuring out.
What do you see as the future of drones near term, to help maybe entrepreneurs out there who are thinking this might be kind of an interesting area to pursue with lots of opportunities?
Where do you see drones going in this in the near term? And then maybe look out five years from now, what do you what do you think the landscape will look like?
Mukila Maitha 36:25
I think we’ll see increased automation — flying drones using software, rather than physical controllers, although there will be still those cases where you need to have physical control, or the ability to take physical control of the aircraft.
But increased automation is one thing that will continue in the near term, and out into the long term.
Also, the increased use of artificial intelligence or AI. It’s there now, but will continue into the near and long term. For instance, right now, there are processes that require manual decision- making. But over time, those will be automated through artificial intelligence.
Once the regulations are in place for addressing drones beyond the line of sight, you will also start to see long range drones. Now, opportunities also open up in terms of the geographic range that you can deploy a drone. And once that’s enabled, then you’ll see more drones built with those kinds of capabilities, and the ability to serve those markets increases.
The beyond visual line of sight. And without having that exemption that allows you to fly that way. There has been the need to physically go to a location with your drone and fly there. And that involves travel and all kinds of logistics.
But for mapping, in my opinion, you can see this just as reducing the, the amount of headache and logistics issues that that you may have. Because for mapping you have to go — you can only map a limited geographic area, then you have to move your system around.
Doris Nagel
I can even envision certain kinds of things that are quite dangerous. Drones might be able to be used for storm chasing or going down inside of volcanoes to predict or further refine predictions about whether a volcano is gonna erupt or something like that, right?
Mukila Maitha 38:58
Yes, and some of that’s already occurring. They are already being used to fly over volcanoes, but you may see increased use for that kind of thing.
Also,[you’ll see more things like] Air Mobility — the air taxis that we talked about earlier.
Doris Nagel
That blew my mind when you were telling me about that.
Mukila Maitha 39:17
In the longer term, you can also expect the use of different types of fuel. Because as [drones] fly further, then the issue of fuel becomes a problem because of the batteries. Or, or, or cars. So now there, there is a company called Dusan, D, or Shn, from South Korea that’s developing that has developed a hydrogen powered solution. Can Fly that’s that can be used for long range flights.
Doris Nagel
That’s kind of mind blowing, in and of itself. I mean, you just say that like,
“Oh, well, it’s hydrogen powered.” But I don’t know of anything else that really hydrogen-powered. That’s pretty amazing.
Mukila Maitha 40:06
Yes, it is. So. So those are some of the things that we can see.
And then just like with any technology, it will evolve in ways that we can’t even imagine right now.
Doris Nagel
What are some of the challenges you foresee, even just knowing what we know now?
Mukila Maitha 40:27
Maintaining safety — obstacle avoidance and having enough, reliable fail safes within the aircraft — will be an issue, especially as these craft fly over long distances.
And if we’re talking about Air Mobility, if these systems start to fly people, then the degree of risk becomes really quite high — completely different from what we have today.
The there’s also the issue of maintaining power in these systems over long distances, as I mentioned before, but also [there’s the issue of ] maintaining communication with them.
Doris Nagel
Yeah, kind of like a radio station. The signal starts to fade out beyond the horizon line.
So obviously, you have to use satellite communication, but even that can be unreliable sometimes. I mean, look at our cell phone.”Oh, I only got one bar. I dropped the call. Oopsie!”
That’s fine if it’s a phone call, but if it’s a drone that you’ve lost communication with, that’s probably not so good.
Mukila Maitha 41:43
Correct. And these days, you’re seeing systems there that that can fly for hundreds of miles. There are military systems already that do that, but now some systems are being developed for civilian use.
Then there will be the issue of integrating all these drones into the national airspace, and avoiding congestion or collision with the crewed aircraft and then these drones interfering with each other. Yeah, that’s an issue that needs to be sorted out.
Doris Nagel
Well, like any technology, there’s regulations, but the regulations on something technology related usually lag by quite a bit, because it’s just the nature of things.
Mukila Maitha 42:32
Yes. Right now, there are rules that have been recommended for this, dealing with the airspace integration. And some steps already being taken. But yes, you’re correct. The regulations do lag behind the innovation.
Doris Nagel
If there are entrepreneurs out there listening to this and thinking, wow, this is interesting — there’s a lot of great opportunities, what’s the best way for them to go about learning more?
You’re probably going to make a plug for the program at Harper, but maybe there are individual courses, or things that people should read? What would you recommend to them?
Mukila Maitha 43:20
Yes, there are several resources.
If you’d like to get your part 107 commercial license, you should look and see if your local community college offers it. If you’re in the Chicago metro area, you can look up Harper College, as we do have a program and it’s on our website. And also, if you’re near a university with aviation programs, they will also have some resources.
Beyond that, I would recommend a website called dronelife, all one word: dronelife. That has excellent news about the drone industry.
You can also look up the AUVSI, the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International. And they have an annual conference called the AUVSI Exponential.
Doris Nagel
That’s the conference you just came back from, right?
Mukila Maitha 44:27
Yes, that’s correct. I definitely recommend it. If you’re able to go to that conference, go for it.
But also their website has a lot of information. They have webinars and lots of resources there.
Also, if you look up the FAA’s drone program — just Google FAA unmanned systems or FAA drones. The FAA also has information. too, that everybody should be aware of.
There is also a website called UAVcoach.com. That site provides a part 107 training, but also has an industry news section, where every couple of weeks or so there are articles that come out about new things that are out there in the drone industry.
There is also a YouTube channel called DroneU. So those who are on YouTube can look at DroneU for some information.
And once you start exploring these resources, you’ll find others but also just especially with the YouTube channels, just compare what you’re seeing because they’re not necessarily experts that provide the information – they’re just giving their opinion.
Doris Nagel
As I found even looking for handy homeowner kinds of things, some people really know what they’re doing. But other people just like making videos.
Mukila Maitha 46:03
Yes. So you should be careful. So with the YouTube, the one that I found pretty sound is a company that sells drones, called Multicopter. Warehouse. So if you look at on YouTube for the Multicopter Warehouse, you find some good information there.
Doris Nagel
Interesting. So are the Harper College courses all in person? Or can people take them online?
Mukila Maitha 46:32
Most of them are online, at least for those that do not require flying drones. Our part 107 course is a fully online class runs for eight weeks. And then we have two classes where students are taught how to one how to fly drones and focus on flight proficiency.
And then a second class that focuses on drone data processing. Those two classes meet once a week on campus or out in the field. You do need face to face instruction for those parts.
And also, you don’t need to buy your own drones. We have the drones here, and we also provide the software. We also have a really high, high end and very well equipped laboratory facilitiy with the computers to process data.
So we provide all that for students who are enrolled in the program, which is a big plus then for the geospatial classes. There is also a photography class. Those are online classes.
Doris Nagel
And I’m sure there will be– if there isn’t already– a drone entrepreneur or startup skills development class coming.
If people are interested in learning more about drones, whether it’s as a career or to start a business, how can they get in touch with you or learn more about your program?
Mukila Maitha 48:01
They can contact me. It’s very easy to find us on the internet — just search for Harper College drones and you’ll land on the pages that have my email, and my phone number. If anyone wants to call me, my phone number is 847-925-6521.
And also, because this show is for entrepreneurs, they might be interested to know that Harper has an entrepreneurship program certificate program that helps entrepreneurs start their businesses.
So I do highly recommend that you look into that program as well. And you can take both the drone program and the courses that are provided by our entrapreneurship program to help you get started in your business. This semester, I do have a small business owner that’s taking the drone certificate. He has an existing business and would like to integrate drones into that and so far, he is getting what he needs.
Doris Nagel
I have no doubt you’re going to see more and more of that. Listening to you talk about drones makes me wish I were going back to college because I think that I would probably this time around do something like that.
The opportunities sound very numerous for people who are creative and also maybe for people who are really good at kind of connecting dots between different areas of expertise. Do you agree?
Mukila Maitha
Yes, I’d say so. The one good thing about the program is that you, you are exposed to lots of different things. And we have a diverse range of students. So that this helps you view things from different angles, and also tap into different expertise that might be in the classroom.
Doris Nagel
It’s seldom that you have photographers, bumping elbows with programmers, bumping elbows with geography students and engineering people. So I’m sure it must be a very interesting learning environment.
I am delighted that you came on the show this week, Mukila, to talk about your program at Harper College and about drones in general. Thanks so much for being on the show this week.
Mukila Maitha
Thank you so much, Doris. It was my pleasure. I really enjoyed this discussion. Anybody who is interested in reaching out to me, I welcome any discussion. And I look forward to talking to you again.
Doris Nagel
Thank you for that very generous offer. I hope listeners take you up on that.
It sounds to me like there are going to be lots of opportunities for people who are creative and are interested, so maybe do a little learning and investigation and put some thought into it, because there will be plenty of, of jobs as well as business opportunities for people who are in the right place at the right time.
Thanks again to my guest this week, Associate Professor Mukila Maitha, who is the chair of the drone program at Harper College in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.
You can find more helpful information and resources on my consulting website, which is globalocityservices.com as well as my new radio show dedicated website, thesavvyentrepreneur.org. You’ll find there a library of blogs, tools, podcasts and other free resources for entrepreneurs.
My door is always open. I’d love to hear from you with your comments, questions,or suggestions, or if you want to be a guest on the show, you know of a great guest, or just to shoot the breeze. Email me at dnagel@thesavvyentrepreneur.org. I promise you’ll always get an answer back.
Be sure to join me again next Saturday at 11am Central/noon Eastern.
But until then, I’m Doris Nagel, wishing you happy entrepreneuring!
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